Richard Viguerie, a longtime conservative activist, was even harsher, declaring that the entire Republican leadership in Congress should be fired for the betrayal of conservatives and “values” voters. “Today starts the new war for the heart and soul of the Republican Party,” he declared.

The few GOP moderates left standing after Tuesday's election were not willing to back down and cede the rebuilding to the party's conservatives.

The head of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership blamed the outcome on “a handful of zealots” who had ignored “the middle of the American electorate.”

“The extreme right has had their turn at the wheel, and the results have proven devastating for our party and our country,” said Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, executive director of the partnership.

Post-election ideological sniping is a familiar ritual of American politics. Many analysts contend that the modern Republican Party rose from the ashes of its landslide defeat in the 1964 presidential election and a subsequent intramural power struggle. Similarly, electoral setbacks in the 1980s spawned a robust debate within Democratic ranks, which led to a more centrist message that helped Bill Clinton win the White House in 1992.

“Anytime there is a political setback, people will use that to advance their agendas,” said Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College.

But, he said, the tussle over ideology may be missing the point.

“The main reason for the defeat was Iraq, which is something political activists can't do anything about,” Pitney said. “It is a matter of foreign policy.”

GOP strategist Joe Gaylord urged fellow Republicans to take a breath and allow passions to cool.

“The truth is that we need to let the dust settle here a little bit, think through – again – who we are and where we're going. And then plot our course for the future,” said Gaylord, a key strategist in the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress.

There may not be much time for that.

On Friday, Republicans in the House plan to fill leadership posts, several of which are hotly contested.

GOP senators will choose their leaders two days earlier with only one battle looming. Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander is a declared contender for the second-ranking post of minority whip. Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi also is expected to be a candidate. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is in line to become minority leader.

Then, in January, Ken Mehlman will surrender his position as chairman of the Republican National Committee when his term expires.

Meanwhile, jockeying for the party's 2008 presidential nomination already is well under way.

Some analysts have concluded that the midterm election results will almost certainly move congressional Republicans to the right.

“The liberal wing of the GOP suffered a disproportionate share of the losses,” said Thomas Schaller, a political scientist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and an expert on Congress' power blocs.

“When you take the moderates out of the Republican wing, that's going to make the party more conservative. There's no question about that,” he said.

Meeting with reporters two days after the election, Mehlman spoke forcefully against “finger pointing” and urged fellow Republicans to be a “big-tent party that is always growing, that is always inclusive and that doesn't have a litmus test as to issues.”

Some conservatives are leery of the concept.

Republicans are headed for a “black hole” if the party should “abandon its pro-moral, pro-family and pro-life base,” said James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian nonprofit.

In that event, he said, “the big tent will turn into a three-ring circus.”

Chamberlain Resnick, leader of the moderate Main Street Partnership, blamed Toomey and the Club for Growth for weakening GOP moderate candidates with primary election attacks and specifically for “knocking Chafee out.”

Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., lost his re-election bid to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse by a 6-percentage-point margin.

The Club for Growth mounted a sustained attack on Chafee during a divisive Republican primary. The club took him to task for, among other things, supporting an increase in the minimum wage, voting for too many federal spending bills and refusing to sign a no-tax-increase pledge.

“They went in to bloody people up,” Chamberlain Resnick said. “Linc Chafee was severely damaged coming out of his primary.”

Veteran GOP strategist Charlie Black said, “Neither is right and neither is wrong. The Republican Party cannot adopt a platform or a set of issue positions and demand that everybody adhere to it 100 percent. There are moderate Republicans in the Northeast who probably aren't going to win by being more conservative.”

Black agreed with Toomey that Republicans have been hurt politically by “the perception that we've let spending get out of control, that we're no different than the Democrats on spending. I think that's true.”